Boot Camp III Assignment #4: Results

Results from Boot Camp III, Assignment #4, in which you were asked to create a "36 Hours In…" style travel package about a place near you.

This was a more demanding assignment than the first three (which is why it was saved for last) and that really showed in the number of entrants. To those who completed the shoot, congrats. And I hope that you learned more about your own turf by looking at it through the eyes of a potential visitor… Read more »

Imitate, then Innovate

Brownie points to whoever can name the (very famous) artist who created the painting above. Extra bonus points if you can say why it is relevant to how smart photographers can learn their craft. Read more »

My Favorite Portable Background Stand is On Sale

Just a quick heads-up to anyone looking for a portable-but-sturdy BG stand/crossbar setup on a budget: LumoPro is doing an instant rebate on their MF613 background kit. A good deal at $150, the rebate takes it to $125.

Mine sees near constant use (in several different ways) and has held up great. The rigid crossbar can be used in 2, 3 or 4 sections. Above, it is set up 3-wide to support a queen-sized diffusion sheet.

Almost all of LumoPro's grip gear is on instant rebate through October 31st. The background stand kit is about 2/3 of the way down on the list, here.

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Backsplash on a Budget: Jaroslav Wieczorkiewicz' Water Angel

The best compliment I can give to a photo is to think of it as a "stopper," meaning that it absolutely demands your full attention when you first see it.

A couple weeks ago I made a quick trip to London to serve as a lighting consultant on a very cool photo project (more on that later). While there, I worked alongside Polish photographer Jaroslav Wieczorkiewicz -- not even realizing at first that he had been the one who shot the last "stopper" I had seen.

And even better, he did it with a minimum of gear and buckets full of creativity. Read more »

What White Balance for Flash Photography?

Strobist reader Gabriel Bratescu, of Bucharest, Romania, asks:

"What white balance setting do you use when you shoot with 1/4 CTO filter, flash or sunny? I find that my indoor pictures that I shoot with Flash WB tend to be a little to warm so I shoot with flash but with Sunny WB."

Great question Gabriel, and the answer comes down to global color control vs. selective color control. Read more »

BrakhaX2: Sketchy Mondays X 52

So, remember the Sketchy Mondays project, by father/son team Moshe and Eddie Brakha?

A refresher: Totally self-generated, no-boundary work done every Monday by an A-List commercial studio. Just for the creative spark; just for the hell of it. All of this done with a DSLR and few complementary-gelled hot lights. (Yeah, I know it's not strobe. Just go with it.)

Check out what happens when you say, "What the hell, let's just shoot something cool on our own, every single week," by scrolling through a few pages on the Sketchy Mondays website. Awesome stuff.

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Emily Knudsen's Baby Veggies

©Emily Knudsen

By David Poller -- As a Boston-based commercial food photographer, Emily Knudsen likes to make sure the groceries are the star of the show. But for a class assignment while still a student at the Hallmark Institute of Photography, bright and silvery metal was on the menu. Her task was to shoot a shiny metal subject so the light would flatter and define, not distract and overwhelm. 

"No reflections," she was told. And while technically photography depends on light reflecting off something, the point was to shoot a highly reflective metal subject without having the light source show up on the subject as harsh highlights. In essence, the assignment was about controlling specular highlights. Read more »

On Assignment: Theresa Daytner, Pt. 2

Having shot the section front photo of Daytner out in the lobby, we quick-walked the lights into her office area. Working from the back and by swapping just one light mod, we were able to get something pretty different for the inside pages. Read more »

On Assignment: Theresa Daytner, Pt. 1

For a long time, business portraits have been my bread and butter. Specifically, run-and-gun, no-assistant, modest-amount-of-gear biz portraits.

The editorial clients I have do not have a ton of budget. Thus, my goal is to work efficiently and still produce something that works well for the publication.

A good recent example was an assignment to photograph Theresa Daytner, a local entrepreneur who is a national rising star in the field of construction. It's a typical enough job to where I thought it would make a good example for a 360-degree look at the process. Read more »

Q&A: Speedlight Color Shifts

In one of the geekier questions I have gotten in a while, reader Kevin House asked via Twitter how color temperature varies with power levels on speedlights.

The short answer is, it doesn't really vary significantly due to power level differences. But it does vary for other reasons. Read more »

Maki Kawakita's Theatrical Light

Photos ©Maki Kawakita

By Irwin Wong -- A largely self-taught photographer, Tokyo and New York-based commercial photographer Maki Kawakita now shoots ad campaigns for major Japanese and US brands as well as working on her own series of self-portraits.

Shown here are Kawakita's photos of Japanese rock icons Glay, which were done in 2009. As with many of her shoots, the location is as much the subject of her photos as are the people.

How to commandeer a glitzy hotel lobby so she can fill it with her heavily gelled flashes? Turns out that part is pretty easy. It is the lighting itself that's a bit more complex… Read more »

Introducing your North America Correspondent

Please join me in welcoming David Poller, your Strobist North America / at large correspondent.

I first met Dave 25 years ago at the University of Florida (go Gators) where we were both studying photojournalism. At UF, "studying photojournalism" meant tolerating classes (except for those taught by Fred Parrish, who really knew his shit) while you worked full-time shooting assignments for the local papers and stringing for AP/UPI.

Since then Dave has been a staffer at papers from Florida to Alaska, and a pic-ed at the San Diego Union-Tribune. He now is a photo editor at Zuma Press.

Check out his photography on his website or follow him via Twitter -- which is also the best place to tip him to cool story ideas for Strobist.

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Q&A: Avoiding Cross Shadows When Rim-Lighting

Strobist reader Ed Roper asks:

I've been using a three-light setup, but running into a pesky shadow problem. Below is an example setup shot with the shadows highlighted. As you can see, I'm already using grids to try to cut down on the spill.

Are these cross shadows just a fact of life when trying to wrap full body like this?

The good news, Ed, is that you have exactly the light mods you need to do this well. And the fix is easy… Read more »

Bjorn Stopped By the House on the Way Home…

I first met photographer / retoucher Bjorn Holland in London a few years ago, just before he was to head out on a little motorcycle ride. Eighty thousand miles later, he stopped by my house for a visit on the last leg of his round-the-world trip.

Given that he did not have an official portrait from the journey, we decided to fix that with a trio of speedlights -- and one very big light mod… Read more »

If You Build This Fulgurator-on-the-Cheap, Use it for Good

I totally missed this on DIYPhotography.net until Alim Kassim clued me via Twitter.

A little bit of quick and easy DIY (and ball bungees!) turns an old film camera into a focusing strobe projector. You can actually buy these things for some models of big lights, but they will cost you some serious coin.

I'd probably use one differently than did the photog on DIYP. Like maybe painting numbers or something three-dimensionally onto someone's face or something. Great idea to keep in the back pocket, tho.

If it looks familiar, it is a simplified version of the "Image Fulgurator" created by photographer Julius von Bismark. But he used his for public mischief...

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And Now, Your NSFW Underwear Shoot BTS Video of the Day

Okay folks, we try to keep it reasonably family friendly here at Strobist. But every now and then something comes along that pretty much says, "Run me."

The video beyond the jump is NSFW-ish. As in there are nekkid people involved. You don't wanna see? Then don't click. Read more »

Michael Kelley: Two-Speedlight Architectural Photography

Photos ©Michael Kelley

Two years ago, Los Angeles-based architectural photographer Mike Kelley was 21 years old and working retail for $8.25 an hour. Today, he shoots images like the one above -- using just two Canon speedlights.

Health Warning: If you were one of the "yeah, but is it photography?" purists who hated on the Lionel Messi post, this piece will probably give you an aneurysm… Read more »

Nikon Announces Nikon 1 Mirrorless Cameras

...with a proprietary hot shoe. Oh, and a teeny tiny chip, too. It'll take your DSLR lenses, with only a 2.7x crop factor.

Really, Nikon? Clearly this thing is not a replacement for a DSLR. But what does it compete with? I use an iPhone (and a Canon G-series) for everything else.

Really hard to understand what they were thinking on this. My thoughts pretty much echo those of Charlie Sorrel at Gadget Lab.

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BC3 Assignment #4: 36 Hours

Welcome to the final -- and most difficult -- assignment for Boot Camp 3.

This one will be more involved than the other three, but the prizes have been amped up to reflect that. And I can honestly say that I do not know a single editorial photographer who would not be happy to receive this exact assignment. Read more »

Choosing Extension Cords for Plug-In Strobes

Before considering an expensive battery pack or generator for your big lights, don't overlook the obvious. Extension cords are a cheap and reliable way to get power to your studio strobes.

A couple hundred feet of power cable and a little advance scouting will solve the vast majority of your location needs. But be careful not to skimp. Here's how to choose a good extension cord for your strobes. Read more »

On Assignment: Stephanie Barnes

Shooting against sunset usually looks pretty good, even with just one light. So much so, that can keep you from experimenting with that second or third light that can give your photos more texture and depth.

Most of my sunset photos lately seem to be done with two lights, one for shape and one for detail. But the third light added to the photo of soprano Stephanie Barnes above was a great help, and will definitely affect the way I shoot portraits at dusk from now on. Read more »

Andrew Pinkham's Renaissance Pet Portraits

Photos © Andrew Pinkham

It's not often one comes across someone doing interesting photography via the Lolcats website. But that is exactly where I found out about Andrew Pinkham.

Based in Philadelphia, his work occupies a space somewhere between digital portrait photographer and Old Master painter. He is just as comfortable with a Nikon speedlight as he is with turning a photograph into a painterly illustration in post.

An interesting destination, to be sure. But how does someone go about arriving at a style like this? Read more »

Boot Camp III Assignment #3: Results

Results from Assignment #3, in which you were asked to choose a relatively large object or scene to photograph, and enhance the ambient with one or two small flashes.

Inside, four finals -- two from the U.S., one from Scotland and another from Malaysia. Read more »

A Master Class in Messi Lighting

(Photo ©Gary Land)



At only 24 years old, Lionel Messi is the best soccer player in the world, period. Anyone who tells you different (save it for the comments, folks) is probably biased toward some Messi-less team.



Photographer Gary Land photographed him for an Adidas shoe campaign, using seemingly every light mod in the Profoto catalog. And as you can see in the BTS video below, pretty much every square inch of Mssr. Messi gets its own light -- with the shoes being just a little bit brighter than everything else, of course... Read more »

Chris Waind's Epic NZSO Compositions

Photos ©Chris Waind. Click on any pic to embiggen.



Wellington, New Zealand-based photographer/illustrator Chris Waind used a motley crew of inexpensive lights -- along with some Photoshop and a lot of creativity -- to create a visual campaign for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.



The goal: to lower the age demo of the audience and raise ticket sales. When the dust had settled, ticket sales were up 20% during a recession.



Keep reading for sketches, final images, a BTS vid and a full interview with Chris. Read more »

Ikeya Tomohide: Drawn to Water

Photos ©Ikeya Tomohide

By Irwin Wong -- Tokyo-based commercial/advertising photographer Ikeya Tomohide [池谷友秀] creates images that feature people in the context of water. He uses simple, dramatic lighting and execution -- combined with complex themes -- to create powerful photos.



A scuba diver before he was a photographer, Ikeya's series of Wave, Breath and Moon demonstrate the value of using personal experience to fuel own your creative process. Read more »

Introducing Your Asia Correspondent

Please join me in welcoming Irwin Wong to Strobist. He specializes in editorial, portrait and commercial photography. And as the new Asia correspondent, his job will be to search out photographers in that region doing kickass work for profiles and BTS's.



Bilingual in English and Japanese, Irwin's first task will be to dive into the rich and vibrant photo culture in Japan. Case in point: Did you know you can walk up to a newsstand in Japan and buy any one of a number of photo mags that specialize in feature after feature of behind-the-scenes lighting breakdowns?



I'm thinking there is a lot of cool stuff waiting to come out of Japan, and Irwin is our "in".



Please feel free to help him out with any tips (especially you Japanese readers) via Twitter @IrwinWong. You can check out some of Irwin's own work at IrwinWong.com.



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Tweaking Dusk: Howard County Fair

All throughout the '1990s if it was the second week in August I knew exactly where I would be -- at the Howard County Fair.



I was a staffer at Patuxent Publishing, a (then) photo-conscious chain of weekly papers. Issues were commonly over 200 pages. And since they ran the results of every 4H judging in the fair, I knew I would have 28(!) pages of listings to fill with photography.



They gave me most of the week to shoot, print and caption, and ran the photos huge in B&W. I was happy as a pig in mud.



So when choosing photos for the culture section of my Howard County Guide project, I knew I wanted to go back and include something from the fair. Read more »

BC3 Assignment #3: Think Big

The subject for assignment #2 was nice and small in size; very manageable. This will not be the case for assignment #3.



In fact, the subject for this assignment will almost certainly be too big to light completely with your small flashes. Read more »

This Is Your Brain, On Light

Lest anyone doubt the ability of lighting to manipulate our minds, here's a quick little illusion to scramble your brain. I read the full explanation on the YouTube page (you'll have to click 'show more' under the video there) and I think I understand it. Maybe.



But my brain is still a little scrambled by the fact that what looks like a shadow in the checkerboard isn't actually a shadow. It's a tone.



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[BrussPup via Giz]

Christoph Martin Schmid BTS: Scream

©Christoph Martin Schmid

By Sara Lando -- There is something about Berlin photographer Christoph Martin Schmid's work that makes the viewer uneasy. His images are suspended, eerie and polished to the point they seem to transcend reality. His ability to compress a whole story into one single frame has allowed him to land international advertising campaigns and become widely recognized.



Today we go behind the scenes with this image from his Scream!! series. Read more »

Introducing Your Europe Correspondent

Please join me in welcoming Sara Lando to Strobist. Sara is a commercial/editorial photographer based near Venice, Italy. But this winter she will be spending four months in Los Angeles to broaden her exposure. So you LA photogs might wanna include her in your gatherings.



If the name rings a bell it may be because she was profiled on this site back in 2007.



Sara's mission is to seek out kickass photographers in Europe and to interview them about the images they are producing. You can help her by tweeting to her (@Bruko) any tips and suggestions for story ideas. (She's well worth a follow, too.)



You can check out her photography at SaraLando.com.



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Chris Buck on Subject Interaction

After last week's post on taking control during a shoot, a quick follow-up from one of the best in the business when it comes to subject rapport -- editorial photographer Chris Buck.



His approach: Embrace vulnerability over hero worship, then win your subjects over with enthusiasm.



As a bonus after the jump, a second video from one of Buck's more imaginative projects: Isn't. Read more »

Open Air Home Studio

I don't shoot in a studio often enough to merit owning one, and renting one is usually more of a pain than it is worth. So I usually cobble something together at home.

Downstairs works for head shots and table tops, and the garage is used for stuff than needs more space. But as often as not, it makes more sense to cart a light and some background paper outside and just work in the driveway. Such was the case for Ramona and Jessica, who I shot to promote a fundraiser for a local domestic violence center. Read more »

Q&A: Seven Words to Expect

Amateur, pro, editorial photographer, hobbyist -- it really doesn't matter. As often as not, your subject is going to this question:

"What do you want me to do?"

How you respond will affect your shoot as much as setting, lens or light. Read more »

An Interview with Arnold Newman

If you make environmental portraits, you can trace your photographic lineage to this man. Arnold Newman is widely recognized as the father of the genre. In fact, a young Greg Heisler famously camped out on Newman's doorstep until he agreed to take him on as an assistant.

It's not every day that you get to spend half an hour listening to the photographic equivalent of an Old Master. He's seen here circa 1981 as interviewed by Barbaralee Diamonstein, with much wisdom to be had.

(Many thanks to Michael for the tip.)

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Boot Camp III Assignment #2: Results

Results from Assignment #2, in which you were asked to choose a local object, significant to your community to photograph.

In addition to a plethora of beer photos (quelle surprise!) some pretty cool stuff came back upstream from all over the world. I'm also guessing some of you have newfound respect for the NatGeo photographers who often have to tell the story of a place with photos of things… Read more »

Q&A on Crisman's Blog

For those interested, Philly-based photog Chris Crisman had me answer a set of ten questions on his blog, in a series he has modestly named The Meaning of Life.
__________

Related:

:: On Finding Inspiration at Home ::
:: On Self-Investment and Reinvention ::

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I Stand Corrected.

Okay, so maybe on-camera flash is cool sometimes, too. Check out this video by the Japanese (of course) band Androp, for Bright Siren. Hit the jump for the BTS video, to see how it was done. Read more »

BC3 #2 Shot: Middle Archaic Spear Point

The local focus of Boot Camp III did not happen by chance. As many of you know, I have been working on a local blog, HoCo360, for about a year now. Over the last couple of months, an idea hit me that I think will both make the site better and increase its value to the local community.

The blog itself continues to ramble along seeming randomly. But it will soon contain a module of posts which will comprise a complete, structured guide to Howard County. Leading off in that module is s section on local history, which is what led me to photograph the ~4,000 year old spear point seen above. Read more »

Beyond Bounce Flash: Using Your Ceiling as a Light Mod

When I shot for The Sun I was assigned to do lots of small product illustrations, AKA table-top shots. And when possible, I would gang them up and shoot them at home rather than in the paper's pro studio.

Shooting at home gave me a variety of locations, a houseful of props, more time with my kids and something the big studio did not have -- a plain white ceiling. The latter being one of the more useful light mods in my kit. Read more »

Quick Note: New Formats for Smartphone and RSS

If you follow Strobist via smartphone or RSS reader, keep reading to learn about a couple formatting changes that will affect you. Read more »

BC3 Assignment #2: It's a Local Thing

Keeping with our local theme, Assignment #2 will again focus on your community.

But this time the introverts will be happy, as you will not have to actually talk to any, you know … people. Read more »

Through the Layers Looking Glass with Dave Hill

LA-based photographer Dave Hill is known for lighting and shooting each segment of his photos separately, then later combining them with mad Photoshop skills to create the final image. That also gives him the ability to do something you have probably never seen before -- expand the layers after-the-fact for a 3-D trip through his 2-D images with the video above.

Created for the launch of the redesign of his website, this video is made from images in his "Adventure Girl" series. If you follow Dave you'll definitely want to head over for more, including new images and plenty of behind-the-scenes footage from his shoots.

As you'll see in the BTS vids, Dave lights the crap out of everything. How he keeps track of the lighting continuity is completely beyond me.

For those interested in knowing how someone goes from shooting local skateboarders in Nashville to doing this kinda of stuff, check out this interview from 2008.

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Worth a Sub: Jay P. Morgan's Awesome YouTube Channel

Like Spinal Tap's volume knob, Jay P. Morgan tends to leave his lighting set on 11. His complex, action-filled shoots call for very specific illumination, usually with a mix of hard strobes.

The video above is typical of his walk-thrus and tutorials in that he shows every step, allowing you to see each light's effect as he adds it. I just blew over an hour watching every single video on his YouTube channel. Highly recommended.

(Via FStoppers)

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I Try To Resist Memes...

...but this one is just too damn appropriate.

Bonus points for the crass commercial messages. Nice last hurrah for the bag-smashing heaviness of the discontinued Vagabond II, too.

Inspiring work from David and Kevin at 2D Photography, Inc., with full BTS post here.

Awesome, gentlemen. Simply awesome. [Tweet this]

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Boot Camp III Assignment #1: Results

Results from Assignment #1, in which you were asked to choose someone interesting in your community as a subject and to produce a (reasonably) tight portrait.

The plan was to get you away from the computer and out into the community -- and over 300 of you took up the challenge. The finals from this assignment included portraits from many different walks of life -- an air guitar visionary, and entrepreneur, an organic farmer, a die-hard BBQ'er, a metalworker, a firefighter and a cancer survivor… Read more »

TGIF: Here's Your Weird Al BTS Video

I love Weird Al Yankovic. I also love behind-the-scenes photo shoot videos. So how can I not love a Weird Al Yankovic BTS vid?

The video, after the jump, features music form the album. It's Weird Al parodying Lady Gaga Weird Al parodying Lady Gaga ripping off Madonna… Read more »

Pint-Sized Power to Go: Paul Buff Hits One Out of the Park

Three months into heavy use of the Paul Buff Vagabond Mini Lithium, I have found the battery I want to marry.

Short version: If you shoot AlienBees, White Lightning or Einstein, this pack is a no-brainer. But it is small enough -- and powerful enough -- to see much more varied use in our house. Read more »

On Assignment: Inside the Soft Box

Shooting locavore and farm-to-table photos for a HoCo project took me to nearby Triadelphia Lake View Farm, where I photographed raised lettuce beds. They literally grow the lettuce in terraced roof gutters on tables, which extends the growing season, uses less water and frustrates the resident bunny population.

I've shot in greenhouses before, using the diffuse plastic as a ready-made light source. But this way you don't get detail in the sky. If the backlit plastic is your light source, the light is gonna be diffuse and the plastic is gonna be white.

However, in this case I wanted a little more punch to the light and some color in the sky. Solution: Turn the whole fricken' thing into a soft box and shoot inside the box… Read more »

Gear Basics: Choosing and Using Soft Light Modifiers

With the gazillion or so soft light mods out there, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the choices available. And while I have probably shot with more of them that I would care to admit, there are four soft mods that I go back to again and again.

As it happens, these four are reasonably priced, too. (Which may well be what attracted me to them in the first place, of course.)

Keep reading for four good choices for soft light that won't break the bank.Read more »

BC3 Assignment #1: Profile

Welcome to the first assignment of Boot Camp 3. While this is of course a lighting boot camp, the light itself will be secondary to the photos. And the photos will be secondary to the purpose.

The purpose for BC3 will be to force you out into you community in search of well-crafted photos that actually have something to say about your community.Read more »

Brad Trent for Barron's

Brad Trent shot the mid-year Barron's roundtable issue, this time with a global investing theme. He shot the montage separately, using segmented backgrounds from … Ikea? It gets the full On Assignment treatment, with lighting setups, etc. on his blog.

Classic Brad: he turned in his lighting setup shots to the paper. And they ran them…
__________


See also: Brad Trent's Fake Reality Portraits

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Finn O'Hara: Wayne Gretzky's First Skates

Toronto-based photographer Finn O'Hara was assigned to shoot The Great One's first skates for ESPN The Magazine, and his take included this shot on pure white.

O'Hara used light rather than a Photoshop cutout to get the pure white background in-camera. His blog post gives a good look at a textbook blow-away white setup on location for a three-dimensional object.

But O'Hara doesn't go into any how-and-why detail. So let's do that here. Read more »

BC3: Introduction

Welcome to Boot Camp III. It has been two years since the last boot camp, so I thought a little background and intro was in order before the first assignment drops next week.

If you are thinking of participating (and I encourage you to do so) keep reading for info on how to participate, rules, prizes, etc.Read more »

Air Profoto

©Claes Axstål
No, not Profoto's proprietary Air-sync remote system. But rather photographer Claes Axstål's using twin 7b's with Magnum reflectors to shoot air-to-air photos of planes in flight. Just a little 2400 watt-second Friday fun, courtesy Ron Egatz on the RSS-worthy Profoto blog.

Having lit aircraft in flight while shooting from the ground using only a few low-power speedlights, I'd love to see a combination of the two techniques. After all, Axstål is certainly driving enough power to set off some slaved interior lights, too…

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